Christie: I wouldn't have pardoned Arpaio

Controversial former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio was not deserving of the pardon he was granted last week by President Donald Trump, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday morning, because he has been unwilling to admit guilt or show contrition for the crime of which he was convicted.

“I think the pardon power is an extraordinary power for any executive, both the governor, and I’ve used it, and the president. My understanding has always been that one of the prerequisites you look for in giving a pardon is contrition for what you were convicted of,” Christie said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I didn't see that in Sheriff Arpaio. And so, to me, one of the things that you need an acknowledgment of is an acknowledgment of guilt, first off, is required for pardon.”

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Arpaio, a former sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County, was convicted last month of contempt of court for his office’s refusal to obey a court order requiring it to cease immigration enforcement practices that included the racial profiling of Latinos. Trump pardoned Arpaio last Friday, one in a flurry of controversial moves made during Hurricane Harvey, which was drawing significant media coverage at the time as it made landfall along the Texas coast.

Arpaio, who was defeated in a reelection bid last November, gained notoriety over the course of his more than two decades in office for his hard-line stance on illegal immigration and for his unapologetic operation of a jail with some of the nation’s harshest conditions. He was a vocal supporter of Trump during the 2016 election and thanked the president Friday “for seeing my conviction for what it is: a political witch hunt by holdovers in the Obama justice department!”

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Christie said he had spoken with Trump about the pardon. The president, he said, believed Arpaio had been wrongfully convicted and that by granting a pardon, he was “doing something that was right and just.” But the New Jersey governor, himself a prominent supporter and 2016 surrogate for Trump, said he disagreed.

“This is not one that I would do because of the person not seeming contrite for what he was convicted of,” Christie said. “And so, you know, my concern about this is for us in these executive positions you need to use this power sparingly and you need to use it for people who are truly deserving.”